Wiktionary

sans

See also: şans and såns

English

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WOTD – 31 May 2010

Etymology 1

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From Middle English saunz, sans, borrowed from Old French sans, senz, sens, from Latin sine (“without”) conflated with absēns (“absent, remote”). Compare French sans, Italian senza, Portuguese sem, and Spanish sin.

Pronunciation

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Preposition

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sans

  1. (literary, now chiefly humorous) Without; lacking.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC; republished as Shakspere’s Loves Labours Lost (Shakspere-Quarto Facsimiles; no. 5), London: W[illiam] Griggs, […], [1880], →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], signature H3, recto, lines 414–416:
      Bero[wne]. […] And to begin Wench, ſo God helpe me law,
      My loue to thee is ſound, ſance cracke or flaw.
      Roſa[line]. Sans, ſans, I pray you.
    • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Qutet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 766:
      Those with brooms started to sweep literally, at the feet of the crowd, driving it back into the side streets from which it had emerged to form this assembly – now riders sans steeds.
    • 1991, A. R. Morlan, The Amulet, page 212:
      But regardless of when Wally had parked himself out in that backyard—sans coat or jacket—somehow, the old lady must have known where Wally would be before he drove out to the Isaacs trailer—or else she followed him out there from his house.
    • 2007 September 4, Natalie Angier, “A Supple Casing, Prone to Damage”, in New York Times‎[1]:
      Skin needs ultraviolet radiation to begin the synthesis of vitamin D, but dermatologists say you can probably get the necessary electromagnetic input from a mere 20 minutes of sun exposure a week, as you go about your daily affairs, sunblocked and sans beach.
    • 2023 June 25, HarryBlank, “Transposthumousism”, in SCP Foundation‎[2], archived from the original on 18 December 2024:
      The fella in question was still sitting at his table, sans everything above the neckerchief. There was blood everywhere, and brain matter, and bits of skull, and what looked like very expensive bone china.
Synonyms
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Translations
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Adjective

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sans (not comparable)

  1. (typography) Short for sans serif.

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

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sans

  1. plural of san

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sans

  1. masculine plural of sa

Noun

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sans

  1. plural of san

Cornish

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Etymology

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From Proto-Brythonic *sant. Cognate with Welsh sant.

Noun

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sans m (plural sens)

  1. saint

Adjective

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sans

  1. holy

Franco-Provençal

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Adjective

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sans

  1. masculine plural of san

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French sans, senz, sens, from Latin sine conflated with absentia in the sense "without". Cognates include Spanish sin, Portuguese sem, Italian senza, Catalan sens, sense.

Pronunciation

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Preposition

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sans

  1. without (not having)
    Je ne veux pas partir sans toi.
    I cannot leave without you.
  2. without (not doing or having done) [with infinitive]
    Elle est partie sans parler à personne.
    She left without talking to anyone.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Middle English

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Preposition

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sans

  1. Alternative form of saunz

Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French senz.

Preposition

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sans

  1. without

Descendants

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  • French: sans

Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French sans, senz, sens, from Latin sine conflated with absentia in the sense "without".

Preposition

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sans

  1. (Jersey) without
    • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎[3], page 520:
      I' n'y a pas de rue sàns but.
      There is no road without an ending.

Antonyms

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From Latin sensus, via French sens.

Noun

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sans m (definite singular sansen, indefinite plural sanser, definite plural sansene)

  1. sense

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From Latin sensus, via French sens.

Noun

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sans m (definite singular sansen, indefinite plural sansar, definite plural sansane)

  1. sense

Derived terms

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References

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Swedish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sens, from Latin sēnsus, from sentīre.

Noun

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sans c

  1. composure, sense
    tappa sansen
    lose one's composure
    komma till sans
    come to one's senses

Declension

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Declension of sans
nominative genitive
singular indefinite sans sans
definite sansen sansens
plural indefinite — —
definite — —
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References

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